Installing the Microsoft Intune client directly after a task sequence

This blog post will be about a bit strange scenario, it will be about deploying a device via a task sequence of ConfigMgr and ending up with the Microsoft Intune client. There are some cases in which the customer elects to manage some devices through Microsoft Intune, instead of ConfigMgr, but still wants to deploy the operating system via ConfigMgr. In those cases creativity is required to get the Microsoft Intune client installed.

The ConfigMgr client and the Microsoft Intune client can’t coexist on one device and it’s not possible to remove the ConfigMgr client during the task sequence (without breaking the task sequence). That’s were the SMSTSPostAction task sequence variable comes in place. This variable can be used to trigger an (unmonitored) action after the task sequence is completed. In this blog post I’ll provide a simple PowerShell script to remove the ConfigMgr client and to install the Microsoft Intune client. Also, I’ll show how to use this PowerShell script in a task sequence.

Script

Now let’s start with the PowerShell script, by going through it step-by-step. The first step is the declaration of the required variables. Most of these variables are set to the default values. The $NewPath variable will be used as a temporary folder.

The next step is to copy the Microsoft Intune client installation files to the temporary folder. This is done to overcome installation problems from the initial location after copying the installation files during the task sequence. This can be done by creating the temporary folder via the New-Item cmdlet and by copying the installation files via the Copy-Item cmdlet.

After the removal of the ConfigMgr client it’s possible to start the installation of the Microsoft Intune client. This can be done by triggering the Start-Process cmdlet again and letting it wait for the action to finish. Keep in mind that when that process finishes the Microsoft Intune client is not fully installed yet. The processes are started to trigger all the different agent installations.

At the end when the removals and installations are done, it’s time to clean up the installation files that were copied. This can be done by using a simple Remove-Item action on the temporary folder.

Remove-Item $NewPath-Force -Recurse

Save the script as Install-IntuneClient.ps1 and add the script together with the Microsoft Intune client installation files into one old-school Package. This Package does not require a Program and will only be used to provide the content during the task sequence. That means that this Package will contain the following three files, Microsoft_Intune_Setup.exe, MicrosoftIntune.accountcert and Install-IntuneClient.ps1.

Task Sequence

Now let’s have a look at how to use this PowerShell script in a task sequence. Well, the actual PowerShell script will not be started during the task sequence, but it will be added as an action directly after the task sequence is finished.

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The first action is to copy the content of the old-school Package, used to hold the previously mentioned files, to a local location on the device. This can be achieved by a simple Run Command Line step with a similar command to XCOPY.EXE “.\*.*” “%TEMP%” /HERCIY.

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The second action is to trigger an (unmonitored) action after the task sequence is completed. This can be achieved by a Set Task Sequence Variable step that will set the variable SMSTSPostAction to a similar command as PowerShell.exe -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -File “%TEMP%\Install-IntuneClient.ps1”.

All together this will make sure that after a successful task sequence the created PowerShell script will be started. I’ve tested this now a numerous times and it works like a charm, just keep in mind that it’s triggered after the task sequence is started. That means that this action is not part of the task sequence progress and by that not monitored. To achieve something like that, the PowerShell script can be adjusted to log and sent more information.

8 thoughts on “Installing the Microsoft Intune client directly after a task sequence”

Thanks for this post. Installation during OSD works.
However, the intune client is installed with errors.
Or, hard to explane, but some components does not work.
The Microsoft Online Management Service cannot do an update when the client is installed with this method. If i reinstall the client manually, this works.

Well, after hours (actually days) of troubleshooting, i found the issue.
It seems that when SCCM and CMClient is Version 1610, the CMClient uninstalltion does not uninstall all services attached to the client.

For some reasons, the Microsoft Policy Platform service that comes with the CMClient does not uninstall.
Intune uses the same Policy Platform, but with a different version, and does not work with the Policy Platform that comes with the CMClient.

After this, the Intune Clients installs the right version of MS Policy Platform.

If i dont manually uninstall the MS Policy Platform, the Intune clients looks ok after install. But in the logs we can see that the policy platform does not work.
It was not easy to find, because the enroll seems fine at first, and you can push applications etc. trough Intune.
But when testing userdeployments and policy actions they just dont seem to reach the client.

Just want to leave a quick thank you to you, Peter, and to Marius for providing the last piece of the puzzle I needed.
I was not able to get xcopy to work within a task sequence, at all. Ended up using cmd to get around the issue.
But, all in all, working now 🙂

Award

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About

I’m Peter van der Woude, born in 1983 and I’m living together with my wife and two sons in the Netherlands.

Currently I work for KPN Consulting. At this moment my main focus is Enterprise Client Management via Microsoft Intune and/ or System Center Configuration Manager (ConfigMgr 2007/ 2012/ CB) and I love it!